I stayed at Marriott EWR airport, for a quick stay I found this hotel to be suitable and I can recommend it.  I did not find the same sort of exaggerated cost-cutting as some other hotels in the NYC area post-covid, and service was above average based on my limited interaction with staff for a short stay.  I would return there in the future when needing a stay at EWR.  

Location

I believe this hotel is the closest to the airport according to the map and the shuttle bus was operational with a frequent schedule every 15-20 minutes.  It was the first time that I noticed the “shuttle tracker” feature in the Marriott app which I thought was a nice way for an airport hotel to differentiate itself compared to other chains.  

Room

This hotel only has 6 suites out of 600 rooms so a suite upgrade is only a pipe dream.  I don’t think I received any upgrade except for the fact that perhaps the rooms on higher floors are considered an upgrade.  Nonetheless my room was of a decent size for a quick stay and the hardware was generally not bad.  For instance I noticed they had double-glazed windows at least 5 cm apart so the soundproofing from outdoors was great; unfortunately the same could not be said of the soundproofing from indoors as I could hear voices, music, and noise from the neighbor and hallway.

The room was generally functional and in ok condition including a stand-alone shower with ThisWorks amenities in large dispenser bottles.  However towards the end of my stay water started leaking from under the sink: suddenly the pipes came apart without anything of note to trigger it, so the water from the faucet was going straight to the floor.  I was able to easily put the pipes back together but it was an odd hardware failure to an otherwise decent stay.  

Dining

Dining was operating as normal, the restaurant was open for breakfast and dinner, and as expected the Platinum breakfast benefit was provided in the lounge.  I am not sure the lounge area was the normal one however – they seemed to have created a make-shift room at the far end of the restaurant and it had a small buffet with traditional fare for breakfast, unlike the a la carte menu in the restaurant which was nicer but guests have to pay for it.  The lounge area was quiet and empty one morning I went there, and completely packed another morning.

Service

Service was generally good and I did not feel any covid staffing cuts were causing problems.  For example they were responsive when I requested if a Fedex package could be mailed to the hotel before my arrival, they handled printout requests, they partially redeemed a gift card exactly as per my instructions, etc.   There was no bathrobe available in the room, and even upon request it was first denied - they said it was for customer safety due to covid.  That is quite a stretch as bathrobes can be washed, when I made that comment the guest service relations manager called me, apologized and said they would bring me a spare bathrobe.  If he went out of his way to call me, that shows the hotel cares about pleasing guests.  In-room dining was also available as normal so that’s not been a covid cut, alternatively we could order takeaway and pick up our dish near the entrance of the restaurant.

Wifi

Wifi worked well with speeds of 30 Mbps.

Overall

Overall I had a decent stay apart from the water pipes which is possibly only a one-off issue, so next time in EWR I would not hesitate to book at this hotel again.